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Three Tips To Avoid Future Problems With Your Fibreglass Pool

1 December 2014 by Felecia Banks

Choosing to install a fibreglass pool is a great decision when it comes to the lifespan of your pool. You can realistically expect to get at least 25 years of swimming joy from your pool by going with a fibreglass option. However, fibreglass pools are not without fault later in their life. To avoid the top three pool issues from occurring, keep these points in mind while your pool is being installed.

Colour Choice

The original fibreglass pools were available for purchase in white and blue, but now there are a much greater variety of colours available to you. While you may think you are being unique and exotic by choosing one of the more obscure colours, the problem arises when it needs repairing later in life.

Complicated colouring is achieved by putting the paint onto the fibreglass in a series of layers. The exact formula of the layers, and the combination with which they are applied, vary from pool to pool as these coloured pools are custom made. This causes an issue when a crack or chip in the pool needs to be fixed later on, because it can be difficult to replicate the original colour design. Even minor colour variations are obvious when they are applied to a fibreglass pool repair site.

To ensure that your pool remains looking its best no matter what, choose a pool that is made using one solid coat of colour. By doing so, you can ensure that the colour of your pool is future-proofed if it ever needs repairing.

Pool Backfill

Once your new pool is in place, the final step is to surround it with backfill. The choice of fill that you choose right now is going to make all the difference in the success or failure of your pool over time. 

Sandy soil, for example, has been a popular choice of backfill in the past. This is particularly true if it was the soil that was excavated from the pool hole in the first place. The problem is that when sandy soil is exposed to a lot of water, it can become liquid and soupy. Waterlogged backfill will not have the strength to keep the fibreglass pool in place, and the internal water pressure will then cause the pool walls to bulge. Additionally, when the backfill moves, you could also experience cracks in the plumbing pipes, and that will lead to pool leaks.

The better backfill choice is gravel for a number of reasons:

• No matter how wet the gravel becomes, it does not change its composition. This means that the gravel is not going to settle or move over time. This will save you from experiencing wall bulges and plumbing movement.
• Unlike sand, gravel does not compact over the years. Once you have it compacted into place during the backfill process, it will not move again. Again, this will ensure that your pool walls maintain constant outside pressure over time, and that means no bulging.

Spider Cracks

If your fibreglass pool does move slightly over time, or it is not installed correctly on day one, you may see spider cracks appear. These are so named because they look like a spider web spreading out from a central focus point on the pool wall. The good news is that the cracks are confined to the gel topcoat layer of the pool. They will not cause any leaks, but they are not pretty to look at either.

A spider crack can be repaired by lowering the water level below the crack, and having the gel topcoat sanded back and reapplied at the site of the crack. To prevent the cracks from appearing in the first place, however, perfect installation and backfill are crucial.

Now that you are aware of three common problems that can take place after a fibreglass pool is put into place, you can take steps to make sure these problems at nipped in the bud while the pool is being installed. This will lead to many years of enjoyment from your pool without excessive repair costs being incurred.

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